New York Mets relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins (32) is in his 19th major league season, with his 10th team. / Anthony Gruppuso, USA TODAY Sports

by Matt Slovin, USA TODAY Sports

by Matt Slovin, USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH -- It has taken all of Jason Grilli's 11 seasons in the major leagues to finally find a home.

He has an endearing nickname ("Grill Cheese") and job security that he never had enjoyed, as the closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who surprisingly have the best record in baseball. Grilli, 36, even has his own foreboding entrance -- set to Pearl Jam's Whipping -- that signifies to Pirates fans an impending win.

Although he enjoys all the creature comforts that come with a closer's role -- and a potentially huge payday awaiting him in free agency when he's eligible after the season -- Grilli realizes he's the exception and not the rule when it comes to journeymen relievers.

"I've had a gravel road," says Grilli, who leads the National League with 27 saves in 28 chances, and is certain to make his first All-Star team when rosters are announced Saturday. I couldn't wait to be in this position, and here I am doing it. And I've embraced it entirely."

For good reason. Grilli's peers in relief are inarguably baseball's most disposable commodity. They are used, at times, to excess by managers but also motivated to flourish and hopefully survive long enough to earn a signficant payday.

That path is fraught with peril and difficult choices.

For every Craig Kimbrel, who emerged from the minor leagues in 2010 ticketed for immediate relief stardom with the Atlanta Braves, there are hundreds of long guys, set-up men and situational leftys aiming to complete an unlikely path: Perform consistently enough in a volatile role to stick around at least three years, where a life-changing payday through arbitration eligibility is in the offing.

That third year in the major leagues, says Philadelphia Phillies reliever Chad Durbin, is when the pressure to perform is the strongest.

"If you know that there's incentive out there, you're going to push a little differently," says Durbin, in his 14th MLB season. "If it's the difference between making the minimum and three times the minimum, that's a significant raise, and those are what everyone shoots for in every sport."

The motivation produces a code of sorts among relievers and those who manage them: Throw until you blow.

When relievers need to get relief

Unlike other players nursing, say, a hamstring injury, a reliever's aches and pains aren't so glaring to the untrained eye.

Colorado Rockies pitching coach Jim Wright said it's his job to be the eyes of the staff. Because pitchers don't want to leave games or admit they need a day off, he needs to be in tune with all of his relievers.

Of course, adequate rest for the relievers is contingent on the starters lasting deep into games.

Washington Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty acknowledged that the overarching mentality of most relief pitchers is, in fact, to throw until you physically can't. Rarely do guys come to him and ask not to pitch, but that doesn't stop McCatty from checking. If his pitchers insist they're ready to go, there's not much McCatty can do but hand them the ball.

"It is (throw until you blow)," McCatty said. "You hate to say it, but that's what they do."

It's rare for someone in the bullpen to feel 100% physically fit when he enters a game, says Durbin, and that's fine to him.

"We'll go until we can't go, period," Durbin, 35, said. "Usually, we get yelled at when we do get hurt because we didn't say something soon enough. But that's the nature of the beast. You go as hard as you can until you can't go any more."

Opinions vary over how easy, or honorable, it is for pitchers to tell their managers they can't throw in a particular game.

Jonathan Papelbon, the Phillies' All-Star closer, says if he isn't feeling ready to go, he'll tell someone. Durbin, however, says that if a pitcher is a little sore or only at about 85%, he still needs to tell the manager he is good to go.

"I would hope that almost every one of them says exactly that," Durbin said.

But aches and pains are relative, particularly if a bullpen has to absorb an inordinate amount of innings in just a few days.

Nationals set-up man Tyler Clippard views a reliever's ability to beg off as case-by-case, based on what he might know of his teammates' availability.

Nationals manager Davey Johnson tends to err on the side of caution when a pitcher's status is in doubt. McCatty said he and Johnson will go back nine days to see how many times each reliever has entered games and how many times he has gotten up to throw in the bullpen.

Johnson is especially keen on getting relievers into the game who have been warming up, rather than sitting them back down. And if Johnson tells one of his pitchers he has the night off, he'll never go back on his word.

"You've got to be stubborn with your thought processes, come hell or high water," McCatty said. "Davey has the ability to do that."

Caught in the middle are the pitchers, who, like special-teamers in football, realize if they can't go, others are willing to fill the void.

LaTroy Hawkins of the New York Mets, a 19-year veteran who has pitched for 10 teams, said the business aspect of baseball is very much a part of the game. Hawkins, 40, adds that guys "can't help but think about" their contract situations.

Sometimes, the end of that road comes later than expected.

All's well that ends well

Laying on the natural-grass playing surface at Goodyear (Ariz.) Ballpark, Grilli thought his career was over.

In February 2010, Grilli had been running around that spring training home of the Cleveland Indians, who had taken a chance on the then-33-year-old journeyman reliever. He had bounced around three major league teams the previous three seasons.

Instead, there he lay, overwhelmed by the pain of a quad muscle shredded by a piece of bone. Suddenly, the minor-league deal he had signed and the spring camp invitation he had earned were worthless.

"The game was literally ripped away from underneath me," Grilli said.

He had never thrown one pitch for the Indians, and sat out the entire 2010 season.

Yet despite the odds heavily stacked against him, he's throwing some of the most important pitches for the contending Pirates this season. Hardly anyone overcomes a career-threatening injury only to find his best pitching still lies ahead. Somehow, Grilli made it.

Grilli insists he wouldn't have been the same pitcher today had he not gotten hurt. Before the injury, he took plenty of things for granted, including his health and that he played ball for a living. That's no longer the case.

That's a fate few of his fellow relievers meet. So they cherish their major league service time, probably a good bit more than others.

"At the end of the day, you've got to go out there and do your job," said 30-year-old Detroit Tigers reliever Phil Coke, in his sixth big league season. "If you don't do your job, you don't get the opportunity to take care of your family."